CHAPTER 3

For the third time in that month, she floated letting herself be propelled by the gentle waves caused by the light breeze blowing over the water. She had her eyes closed but it was a peaceful nap,not too far away from consciousness. This time however was different from the last two times she had found herself stranded in the middle of nowhere. This time, she recognized her surroundings. She was at the very port that she worked at with most of her cases. It was deserted and so dead that she started wondering if there was ever any sense of life. She looked around and saw lines of fishing boats and yachts spreading over a large part of the dock. She started walking but before she could go five steps,she felt it. The same tug she always felt. A presence, like someone was following her moments before turning. The last two times there had been nothing or no one but the voice of a woman calling to her this time she saw something. A shadow or silhouette of a woman she couldn't see clearly. The voice calling her name was the same one but she couldn't pick out the face. All of a sudden, the image disappeared and almost at the same time, she felt a tug on her arm. She shot up in panic and tried to turn but instead of the boats and yachts, she found four walls surrounding her,half lying in bed and a pair of very curious eyes looking at her. That was when her mind recollected her surroundings. She sighed and laid back on the bed on her back and looked at the ceiling.

"You heard her again,didn't you?" The woman beside her asked. She didn't respond. "The woman in your dreams or should I call her the woman of your dreams?" she chuckled amusedly.

"I actually felt her touch this time," Jessie responded casually.

"You what now?" She started laughing. "I'm sorry,you seriously have got to see a shrink or whatever. You are starting to worry me."

Jessie was not listening to what her companion was saying. Instead she was busy analyzing her repetitive dream silently in her head. Why was it occurring regularly. She was not a superstitious woman but the clear pattern and the similarity in the dreams was just too much to dismiss. Maybe her friend was right, maybe seeing a shrink was what she needed to do.

"It felt real, so real this time Brielle. "And yet so strange."

"Of course it's strange. There's no woman like that existing in the real world. She's just a fantasy and fantasies fade away. Do I even have to remind you that?"

"It doesn't hurt to believe in something," she replied then turned away, "Even if that something seems crazy and nonexistent."

"Um...remind me why I came to have sex with you again?" Brielle asked.

"Uh...because you love it."

"Yeah,but I'm not gonna anymore if this woman of your dreams keeps popping up every other day." Brielle stood up and walked towards the bathroom butt naked. Jessie stared after her backside clearly loving the view shamelessly. Brielle turned at the bathroom door. "Got it?"

"Are you jealous of a woman I only encounter in my dreams but don't even see her Gabrielle?" she asked teasingly.

"Oh please, not even if she was here physically. Feelings aren't really my thing."

And that was true. Brielle was all in for sex but nothing going beyond that. They had a mutual understanding and had over a long period of time remained friends with benefits and totally non exclusive. She never really loved this lifestyle of having multiple partners but she didn't think she wanted to settle either. It was all about enjoying life and at least these escapades helped her escape from her daily monotonous work of fighting drugs in the west coast of America. The only action she got was when there were cartels to fight. At times she could go for weeks without any action and that was when she normally retired to the background,socialized and just waited out. She rolled over and reached out for her phone which weirdly didn't have any calls or messages waiting for her unlike any other day. They would mostly be from her mother asking her how she was doing and when she would be going home for family dinner or from her work partner and best buddy Nico, asking her to go out with him and the guys. Yeah, she was a guy person,there was only one woman in the whole department that she got along with. She threw the phone back in a drawer and got up.

"Are you going to work today?" Brielle asked from the bathroom.

"I haven't heard any updates yet so, I'm probably going to idle around Claire in forensics then head out to the bars with the guys."

"Oh, what about the incoming shipping. Any news yet?"

"You know I can't discuss that with you Brielle even if I am having sex with you,"she reminded her which felt like the hundredth time and at that moment allowed herself to wonder why she was so curious about that. "Why are you so concerned about it anyway?"

Before Gabrielle could answer,her phone rang. She grabbed it quickly and didn't hesitate to answer when she saw it was Nico. A text from him meant an invite to a social function,a call however meant business. "What have you got?"she asked as soon as she had acknowledged him.

"Hey, remember the guy we arrested the other day for selling coke to minors?"

"The one I thought was too innocent and timid to be a drug dealer?"

"Yeah, apparently he is not a drug dealer. He was just doing it against his will and we are looking at something much more serious and dangerous."

"Okay,how dangerous?"

"Red moon dangerous."

Nico stated and she spotted a hint of excitement in his voice. She couldn't blame him for that. He was the type of guy who found the thrill and life's happiness in things like this. The more dangerous it was,the more excited he became and even something as blood chilling as that name was not a big deal to him. She took a moment to recollect herself. While 'red moon' was just a drug dealing gang to the whole department,it wasn't that simple on her part. It was just a few months back that she had realized who exactly was behind the 'red moon' and it wasn't something she wanted to think about because the more she did,the more she lost control of herself. No one knew about it and she wasn't about to share that information with anyone. This was personal in so many levels and that was why hearing the name again brought back all these emotions she had thought she had already gotten past. She had let herself believe that she wouldn't hear it again but believing that had been the worst decision she had ever made. The past can disappear but that goes to as far as it want to disappear. It has a habit of sneaking onto someone at the least expected moments so that what's left is just to deal with it.

"Jess, are you still there?"

"Yes, yes I'm here." A loud impatient knock at her apartment door sounded which surprised her because she hadn't been expecting anyone. "Look,I have to go now but I'll be down at the station in a few minutes and we can go through the details." Without waiting for his response, she ended the call and headed to the door ready to give whoever was knocking as if wanting to break the door down a good piece of her mind. "How about you just smash it in instead of banging so annoyingly and waking up the whole neighborhood?" she said angrily as soon as she opened the door but backpedaled when she saw who it was,"Mom!"

"Jessica sorry to rudely interrupt you from whatever it is you have been up to for the last three days that made you too busy to even check on your own mother or least of all answer her calls. I'm sorry I had to come up here and annoy your neighbors just so I could know you are okay," her mother replied with the most unapologetic tone then walked past her and into the room. It took her a moment to close the door and follow her inside, one because she was confused by her presence there and two because she seemed really furious about something.

"What are you talking about? I haven't been ignoring your calls,I haven't seen any for that matter!"

"Are you saying that I'm delusional or too old to know that my daughter doesn't want to hear from me? "

She sighed,"Mom,that is not true. Give me your phone." She hesitated. "Just give it to me,I want to see something." She took it,scrolled through her call logs and shook her head with a chuckle. "You have been calling your other daughter, not me. Again,"she handed the phone back to her.

"What?" she looked at the phone and double checked. "Isn't this your number?"

"That's Marissa's number. You seriously should start using our names because it's starting to get really frustrating when you get angry at me while it is her you are angry with."

Her mother sat down with a heavy sigh, "Well, I'm sorry about that."

"What is going on with you?"

She cupped her face in her hands and looked at the floor.

"I think I'm going crazy. First Marissa disappears, you are no longer at home anymore. I just don't seem to connect with my kids nowadays. It's getting lonely and I can't stop thinking of what could happen to you every single day I wake up or go to bed. You are always running around fighting criminals and Marissa... she... she just decided that we are not enough for her."

"Mom, you know Marissa has always been the wild twin and she has been disappearing for all our lives. But she always turns up. You don't need to worry about her." She sat next to her. "As for me, you know I am always careful."

"Yeah but it's getting really dangerous even for the most careful."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? There are rumors about the old gang being back in the streets. The last time they were here it didn't end well and-" she stopped and turned to her. "Why am I even telling you this? You must be aware already."

"I was actually just about to head to the station and gather more details about that. I think it's that time of the year again. We just don't know how it's going to be this time round."

Her face turned into terror,her eyes dancing with fear.

"Promise me that you are going to be careful. That you are not going to do anything stupid that puts your life in danger."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to do that in my line of work but I'll try to be careful,"she reassured her. "What else did you want to tell me?"

"Well, Kelsey's school called. She has been up to no good lately and she managed to get herself suspended. I was thinking that you should swing by and pick her up."

She was already shaking her head before her mother could complete her statement.

"That's not a good idea. She doesn't want to see me."

"It's been weeks already. I think she has gotten past the anger she had for both of us when she left for school."

"Not for both of us. She adores you mom and loathes me. I don't know how that's fair because I wasn't the one who had decided to keep the secret from her in the first place."

"You were young Jessica. I had to make the decision for you and you were okay with it. But I think both of us knew that one day when she was old enough, she would know the truth that you are her mother,not me."

She stood up and started pacing around the room. She remembered that day too well. It wasn't supposed to happen like that and it wasn't like she hated her daughter. They had just had a long lasting relationship as sisters, sharing a special bond until that day when Kelsey found the papers from the hospital that indicated quite clearly that she was indeed her daughter not her sister. It wasn't until that moment that she realized how much she had messed up by letting that happen sixteen years ago. Now the relationship they'd had was ruined and was probably never going to be repaired.

"Hey, take it as a good thing. You can start over and try to understand each other. Try to connect on a much higher level. You know, mother-daughter relationship. It's going be okay but it has to start with you, showing up to that school and picking her up like the responsible parent you are."

She scoffed,"Yeah,right. Kelsey is never going to see me as her mother. We both know it." She stopped and looked at her,"Just go get her please. The last thing she wants is me showing up there after not showing for the sixteen years she has lived. What do you think she is gonna do,run over to me and embrace me excitedly? You know her, she is more like Marissa and will probably just run away."

"You might not have acknowledged yourself as her mother in words but your actions say so much. You have shown up in every way a parent would have. I'm sure she will see that soon if she hasn't already during those weeks she has been away." She stood up,"Tell you what, I'm going to pick her up but you have to promise me that you are going to talk. Give yourself and her a chance to get this right." She nodded but only because she didn't want to argue with her mother who was capable of going on and on about it for hours. "And please show up for dinner tomorrow."

"I will,"she attempted a smile trying to hide the tension she was now feeling. Red moon back in town,her daughter who wasn't really her daughter until a few weeks ago... she had a lot to deal with and this being the beginning, she was pretty sure the next few weeks or months were going to be really tough.